The Way I See It is a blog published at least three times a week containing thoughts and analysis and irreverent musings on the local, state, and national sports world.

Local sports teams making us proud

About this blog

By Dennis Miller

My name is Dennis Miller and I am a lifelong resident of Kirksville, MO. I have been totally blind since birth and a sports fanatic just as long. I like all sports but love baseball and am a proud lifelong member of Cardinal Nation. It is my honor
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My name is Dennis Miller and I am a lifelong resident of Kirksville, MO. I have been totally blind since birth and a sports fanatic just as long. I like all sports but love baseball and am a proud lifelong member of Cardinal Nation. It is my honor to be given the opportunity to write a blog for the Kirksville Daily Express and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

This is a great time to live in Missouri and be a sports fan. I cannot remember a year like this in a very long time.

Congratulations to the Kirksville High School cross country teams and all those who qualified for the state cross country meet coming up this weekend. Complete results of the district cross country meet can be found in today’s edition of the Kirksville Daily Express.

The Truman State Bulldogs hung on for a 35 to 27 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday. The Bulldogs led 28 to 7 at halftime and scored early in the third quarter to make it 35 to 7 and the rest of the game saw many of the second and third string offensive and defensive players get some work in. The game wasn’t nearly as close as the score would indicate. It wasn’t the most enjoyable game to listen to but the Bulldogs got the job done and remain undefeated in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and moved their overall record to 7 and 2. They will be at home for the final time this year on Saturday to play St. Joseph’s of Indiana or Indiana St. Joseph or whatever they are called. Anyway, it will be the last game at Stokes for several outstanding seniors so make it a point to get out and see them. We’ll have more on the game in Friday’s blog.

The Missouri Tigers easily defeated the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday night 31 to 3. I wasn’t sure how Missouri would play after the crushing defeat the week before but I really think that loss was the best thing that could have happened to the Tigers. They came outSaturday night and their defense made a very strong statement. This was by far their best defensive effort of the year and they totally dominated the Volunteers to improve to 8 and 1 overall and 4 and 1 in the SEC which is remarkable given the level of competition in the SEC. They are still leading the SEC East and will travel to Kentucky on Saturday. We will of course have more on that game in Friday’s blog.

The Kansas City Chiefs moved their record to 9 and 0 yesterday with another less than spectacular victory as they defeated the Buffalo Bills 23 to 13. The Chiefs offense continues to struggle in a major way and 14 of the 23 points the Chiefs scored yesterday were by the defense. The Chiefs came very close to losing yesterday’s game and would have had it not been for the defense which continues to do pretty much everything. I think it’s great the Chiefs are 9 and 0 but I really can’t get overly excited about it because the offense is still a huge problem. The Chiefs will lose and probably very soon as they are now to the toughest part of their schedule. The bye week could not have come at a better time for them as there are a number of players on the team who have nagging injuries and they can hopefully use the week off to heal and get ready for their trip to Denver on November 17. That will definitely be their toughest game of the year thus far and possibly for the rest of the season. Four of their final seven games are on the road so they definitely need this upcoming week to rest, heal, and prepare.

The St. Louis Rams came close to beating the Tennessee Titans yesterday but close only counts in horseshoes. They lost 28 to 21. I didn’t see any of the game so can’t really comment on it other than to say the Rams are actually playing better right now than I expected given the loss of Sam Bradford. Obviously they aren’t playing well enough to win and any expectations of a playoff caliber team died several weeks ago but they do appear to be playing better.

Jimmie Johnson won his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the year yesterday to move seven points ahead of Matt Kenseth in the Case for the Cup. NASCAR has two races left and it looks like the points title will not be decided until the final race in two weeks. They are in Phoenix on Sunday before finishing up the season on November 17 in Florida.

We’ll be back on Wednesday with another blog where we will look back at the St. Louis Cardinals 2013 season and look ahead to 2014 as well as address the major questions facing the team during the off season. Friday’s blog will get us ready for another busy weekend of sports action. Thanks as always for checking out this and all the other blogs on the site and please follow me on Twitter at KDEBlog.